


Happy Birthday, Captain

by Manalyzer



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Birthday, Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 14:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18896881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manalyzer/pseuds/Manalyzer
Summary: Less than a month had passed since she’d given the order to destroy the Caretaker’s array and while they’d been speeding towards the Alpha Quadrant at full warp, the journey seemed even longer, home even further away. Especially today. Missing Earth was an everyday occurrence but today was a more visceral hurt. Because today was her birthday.





	Happy Birthday, Captain

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Bizarra for the super quick beta. <3

Less than a month had passed since she’d given the order to destroy the Caretaker’s array and while they’d been speeding towards the Alpha Quadrant at full warp, the journey seemed even longer, home even further away. Especially today. Missing Earth was an everyday occurrence but today was a more visceral hurt. Because today was her birthday. 

Her 35th birthday to be exact. 

Plans had already been made for this particular day. As always, there would be dinner with her mom, and Mark had planned to take her away for the weekend. He hadn’t told her where, but had promised it would be a relaxing and romantic getaway. It had coincided with the end of her mission and debriefing so she’d even been able to secure time off. She couldn’t help but wonder what and where they would have gone; if she’d ever even find out.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t happen now. Shaking her head, she wondered what her family was doing today, if they were doing anything. Were they grieving? Were they petitioning for more expeditions to look for Voyager? Were they already starting to move on? 

No, not after a month. Especially not her mother. Especially not Mark. 

Oh, Mark. 

What she wouldn’t give for one of his birthday hugs. He always gave the best hugs. Of course, he gave the best of other things, but today, a hug was really called for. As Captain, she’d never really allowed herself to get close to her crew, purposefully. Always wanted to keep that space between personal and professional. However, in the past, she’d never been the only high ranking officer in an entire quadrant. There were days when she wondered if she’d be able to keep that distance between herself and her crew here on Voyager. It seemed, out here, she felt more isolated than ever before. Even surrounded by her crew, she was very lonely. Days passed without so much as a kindly spoken word in her general direction, save for her first officer.

Yes, the Maquis rebel who she’d chosen to be her first officer after Cavit’s untimely death. Chakotay had stepped up and honored her suggestion, fully engulfing himself back into the role of a dutiful Starfleet officer. Moments would sometimes go by when she didn’t remember that just a month ago she had been set on capturing him and bringing him and his crew back. Probably for a lifelong prison sentence. She’d look at him and see him staring at her. Her hair. Her lips. Her eyes. The attention wasn’t completely unwanted, though it did confuse her. After all, she knew she was an attractive woman. She’d had her fair share of men, and women, pursue her in the past. However, the way that Chakotay’s gaze made her feel left tingles in her toes, and her cheeks hot. It made her heart hurt with the guilt of knowing that Mark was back home, waiting for her, grieving for her. So she pushed those thoughts and reactions as far away as she could.

Shaking her head she brought herself back to the present, her eyes focusing on the desk in front of her. Alpha shift was almost over, and considering the way the day had gone so far; the way her mind had wandered all day, she felt leaving a few minutes early would be okay. 

She stood and made her way out of the ready room onto the bridge. Not seeing Chakotay in his seat, she handed over control to Tuvok and stepped onto the turbolift, calling for deck 3. The lift hummed quietly as it descended to her deck, finally opening. The hallway beyond was vacant and she moved quickly to her quarters with the determination to call it an early evening. She hoped to sleep away this birthday, wishing it would be the only birthday she’d have away from her family. Her friends. Mark. 

As the doors swished shut behind her, her gaze fell on the table just beyond the shadows, and further to the item on top of the smooth surface. She’d definitely not left anything on the table. 

Her eyebrows cinched closer in confusion as she stepped forward and saw a PADD laying beside a rosebud. Picking up the PADD, her mouth moved into a lopsided grin as she opened up the message on the screen. 

_Happy birthday, Captain. Enjoy a few replicator rations for your coffee, on me. I already programmed them for you.  
Chakotay_

She reached out and brought the small rosebud to her lips and breathed in the sweet fresh scent. A small smile played across her lips as she rubbed the delicate petals against her cheek. 

Maybe she wasn’t as alone as she had thought.


End file.
